Our Sins...His Righteousness

In Leviticus 16, we are told of a rather strange event that would occur every year on the day of atonement. The high priest would take one goat and sacrifice it for his own sins. He would then lay hands on another goat and he would confess the sins of Israel as he laid his hands on the goat. The goat would then be led out into the wilderness far away from the temple and set free. The first goat symbolized the sacrifice for sin which brought forgiveness of sin, but it is an incomplete understanding of forgiveness. The second goat gave the Israelites a picture of what God was doing with their sins. He was removing them.

I wonder if sometimes, all we ever experience is the forgiveness of our sins. We never understand that our sins are removed. And not only are they removed, but we are empowered to live free from their bondage.

The second goat, the scapegoat was taken into the wilderness by someone who knew the wilderness. They knew the most remote places to take the goat so that it would never find its way back. Once removed, the sins of the people were removed.


2 Corinthians 5:21 says: “God made Him who had no sin to become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of Christ.” There is a transfer that occurs. Jesus took our sins and paid our spiritual debt. But that is only one-half of the transfer. He also says, "I'll give you my righteousness, and we'll call it even." What an amazing concept. He takes our sin, we get His righteousness. Now follow this closely. Just as the transferal of our sins caused something to take place in His life (He had to die on the cross because of our sins), His righteous ought to cause something to take place in our lives (we are now empowered to live...right or righteously!

Before you begin to give the argument...everyone sins. I agree! The Scripture clearly says "All have sinned..."(Romans 3:23). And before you argue, "No one is perfect". I agree! But let me add this...to excuse our sins on our sinful nature is to deny His righteous being transferred to us. It is amazing to me that so many who want to claim the transferal of our sins to Him want to deny the transferal of His righteousness to us.

Does that mean I am sinless? Of course not. But it does mean I do not have to sin. It is my choice. Imperfection is not an excuse to live imperfectly. We are empowered to live righteously!

I am not denying that His grace covers our sins...past, present and future. But to fully appreciate His willingness to receive my sins, and I must also understand what He gives me...His righteousness.

Have I sinned in the past? Sure. Will I sin in the future? Probably. But if I do, it will not be because His righteousness is not available? It will not be because I am imperfect. It will be because of my choice. Let me put it another way. I read a definition of the word “values” today in a career planning lesson I was teaching to high school seniors. The lesson had nothing to do with spirituality or our relationship with God. The lesson defined “values” as “something that means enough to us that it changes our behavior”.

If the occupational world understands that truth, surely we who follow Jesus can at least agree that if we value our forgiveness, it ought to change our behavior! Not because of our righteousness, but because we have been empowered with His righteousness!